Musings by me, myself and occasionally I. Be prepared for anything from sport to current affairs, politics to just real life. I hope you enjoy and thank you in advance for reading

Thursday, 2 May 2013

Concerts show Hansi certainly can make the party Last

Hello Blog! It's been a great six days away from work again in the company of friends in the James Last Appreciation Society viewing concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London and Bournemouth.

In my opinion, James Last just gets better and better! If you told the layman the guy was 84 you would probably get a few raised eyebrows.

The magic of the RAH was only matched by the wonderful programme on offer with the band even doing Skyfall this year.

Have to admit as well as hearing the wonderful tones of Ingrid Arthur I was rather emotional on the first evening because of course Derek Watkins, who lost his battle against cancer earlier this year, played not only for Hansi but on all the James Bond movies.

Ingrid's voice gets better and better and the whole choir; Simon Bell, Mac Kissoon, Tracey Duncan and Sonia Jones make it a night to remember.

Erland Krauser's guitar solo again left me fascinated, I love the sound of the electric guitar played by a true professional – and Erland is certainly that!

I would die a happy man listening to James Last's version of 'Moves Like Jagger' and the simply brilliant 'Glad you Came' made famous by The Wanted of course.

What makes me all the more proud to be a fan of James Last is the way he makes music from today ie Maroon Five and The Wanted accessible fors his members and fans, many of whom are of a certain age.

One day I am determined to do a poll at a venue and ask the audience if they knew who first performed tracks like Moves like Jagger, I reckon less than one in 10 would give me the right answer!

And that for me is the genius of James Last, taking music from today and widening its appeal. Can you think of someone in the market nowadays that does that? No me neither.

On the whole it was a great break with some great friends and did include a fair share of sprinkler dancing! The story of that though is for another blog!

We waived many of them off on Monday and myself and Pam stayed in Bournemouth for a couple more days of food, crazy golf and some R and R. It was heaven but then again, Bournemouth always is for us.

Came back to work for a new job, the editor's post of the Evesham and Pershore Observer, first paper done, looking forward to the challenges ahead!!